The failing Floozie – in Victoria Square – was switched off more than a year ago because of a waterworks problem.

Repair work was started last April and city council engineers were keeping their fingers crossed it would do the trick.

But in October, they were forced to admit that the foxy lady has outwitted them.

The city council said the problem was that a tricky-to-fix leak was leading to the fountain’s water consumption being ‘too high’. Officials admitted they had no clear idea when the fountain would be flowing again, or the likely size of the latest repair bill.

The idea of turning the Floozie into a giant flower basket has been raised by green-fingered Mercury reader John Read, of Castle Bromwich, Birmingham.

“Since it was built, this so-called fountain has been broken more often than it has been working,” he said.

“It should be renamed the Floozie in the Broken Bathtub.

“Fill it with soil and plant it out with flowers and turf. It would look a lot better than it does standing empty all the time.

“It would bring some desperately needed colour to Victoria Square and it would be a lot cheaper than constant repairs.”

The Sunday Mercury asked the city council what would happen if the latest technical problems could not be fixed or the repairs proved prohibitively expensive – and passed on Mr Read’s suggestion.

A city council spokesman said: “It is our intention to refurbish the fountain to full working order and we will have a clearer idea of the costs and timescale involved once investigations have been completed.

“Until then, we are unable to speculate further.”

Floozie-watchers say she has become the priciest vamp in history. The risqué statue is officially named The River but the naked bronze figure, weighing nearly two tons and sitting at the top of a fountain and cascade, quickly earned her shady lady nickname.

Designed by artist Dhruva Mistry, she cost an eye-watering £3.5 million when she was unveiled in 1993. But the ill-fated courtesan has been showing her age in recent years and was switched off in October 2013 after springing a leak.

It is only five years earlier that the Floozie was restored to her former glory after a jaw-dropping £300,000 was spent on a three-month refurbishment.

At Christmas 2013, the Sunday Mercury revealed the cost of commissioning the Floozie, plus a succession of repairs, had cost the council taxpayers a staggering £3.9 million, a figure which excluded routine maintenance and cleaning.